Published Wednesday 04 February 2009 by Steve Boneham

Student recruitment is increasingly competitive in Higher Education. So, to widen the reach of recruitment for one school at Newcastle University, Netskills helped them recreate the experience of a day on-campus - online.

University open days are a popular way for potential students to find out what it's really like to live and study somewhere. However, for many people, particularly those based overseas, attending these events can be difficult. Recognising this, the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology (GPS) at Newcastle University set out to create an online experience equivalent to a typical open day.

School administrator, Rob Walton, said, "Our initial idea was simply to produce some video of staff and students, without much clear idea of what else might work. But through working with Netskills we've been able to incorporate a range of innovative technologies into our website, giving potential students a much richer picture of life in the School."

Lead developer, Steve Boneham said, "The real challenge was to implement these innovative technologies within the framework of an existing university website. We worked closely with both the client and the university web team to ensure we met all their requirements."

That's something that impressed Rob Walton. He said, "The difference when working with Netskills is their ability to instantly grasp sometimes vague ideas. Through an iterative, innovate and creative process they put together a professional product for us. I feel this is a very effective way of working with web professionals."

Would a similar approach work for you? If so, find out more about our content development services.

Find out more: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/about/openday/